DRAWS have been the bane of Liverpool for more than most would care to remember, but I think few will be too disappointed with taking a point from Stamford Bridge on Sunday.

I think most would have taken a draw before kick off, and the first hour of the game will have only strengthened that view. I have to admit that at 1-0 down I was fearing the worst.

The first half was shocking, and that is not me being overly critical either. Liverpool were tentative, they stood off Chelsea too much and they deserved to be behind.

They enjoyed enough of the ball, but it was all in areas where Chelsea were happy to let them have it – in Liverpool’s half. There was nothing even approaching a supply line for Luis Suarez, nothing resembling an attacking threat.

The goal we conceded was a shocker, from a defensive point of view. Chelsea have been doing that for years, blocking off players at corners, and Daniel Agger should have been wise to it. You can’t give players a free run at set pieces, let alone players as good in the air as John Terry.

But if the first half was bad – and it was – then the reaction in the second was very impressive. You could attribute it to Chelsea dropping off, or the fact that they lost Terry to what looked a bad injury, but I think Liverpool deserve a lot of credit for their response.

That some Reds will have left the ground disappointed not to have taken all three points says a lot. Liverpool finished the game in the ascendency, and had chances to have pinched it.

It may sound like I am singling the player out for criticism, but I thought the Reds looked a lot more of an attacking threat once Nuri Sahin had left the field, to be replaced by the youngster Suso.

Sahin, for whatever reason, just hasn’t looked the player we were told he was when he signed. He was well off the pace again on Sunday, and I think his form – and that of Suso, by the way – gives Brendan Rodgers a bit of a selection headache.

Suso is a classy footballer, with a wonderful left foot. He is more direct, more positive than Sahin, and looks far more willing to take a few risks in attack, taking players on and looking for incisive passes in the final third. It was his corner, of course, which led to the goal for Suarez.

That goal, incidentally, was pretty similar to the one he got at Everton, which was ruled out. His penalty box movement and his anticipation in those situations is fantastic. Thankfully on this occasion we had a good linesman to spot that he had timed his movement perfectly, eh?

And thankfully, we had someone able to deliver a dangerous corner and someone, in Jamie Carragher, willing to attack it with belief and commitment. It was a fantastic flick from Jamie and he put it on a plate for Suarez.

I had to laugh at the Sky statistic that it was Carra’s first assist since 2009. What next, last-ditch tackles from Suarez?